. . . because sometimes I can't type

How do you choose?

Before I get to the topic of this post, I want to say . . . I’ve decided to stop procrastinating. I had originally intended to rewrite all the emails I’ve sent to various friends about my experiences in playing WoW, both the funny and the comically anxiety ridden but I will embrace that plan no more. I hope to (eventually) drag those stories out of my email archive and share all the good stuff therein but for now I’m going to share what’s happening now and save what happened then for later.

After much consideration, I think I’ve finally got my cast of characters set. I don’t have a Paladin or a Warrior but I can live with that. I’ve got a wonderful elegant and serene druid, a powerful and stalwart hunter, a cunningly quiet rogue, a stoic and responsible mage, a carefree and crafty shaman, a capable and practical priest and a serene and mighty monk. I have deleted four hunters and shuffled my professions to cover everything. The hunters were vital in learning to play the game, manage the professions and generally stay alive but their day of filling my slate are over. I only need one hunter and my steady dwarf Frahngahg with her corehound Fluffy suits me perfectly.

Moema and the Fel Reaver

I am currently running Moema, my gnome monk, through Hellfire Peninsula. I’ve been through this zone a number of times (3 hunters, a druid, a mage and a rogue) and with that level of exposure know it well enough to be fairly relaxed about questing here. Though I’ve been through it many times it’s still fun to play . . . it definitely is. Hearing the Fel Reaver up close and unexpectedly produces the same adrenalin spike as the first time through when the rat bastard stepped on Frahny and squashed her like a bug . . . <shiver> The continued interest in this zone is in the differences in the classes and core abilities of characters. Each must approach the quests from a slightly different angle which adds a freshness to the fun.

Moema qualified for her flying license just before coming to Hellfire Peninsula. With that license, because she’s a monk, she can use the glyph for zen flight. Zen flight is interesting. It’s like and very different from the druid flight form. Moema can gather (fishing, herbs and quest items) using it just as the druid can, but unlike the druid flight form, there is no flight speed attached to this ability. In zen flight, Moema flies at the same speed as her ground movement. Before you think that makes zen flight worthless, read on. Like the druid flight form, she can cast zen flight when she’s falling through the air or riding her gryphon. She can cast zen flight from while on her gryphon. Unlike the druid flight form, she can be knocked out of zen flight. If she’s dismounted at sufficient height she parachutes to the ground.

While the flight forms have a few similarities, they are very different. The monk in zen flight can cast quest items. Moema was able to use the torch to burn the catapults in Hellfire Citadel. Calfuray (druid), when she quested through, had to clear space around each catapult to safely cast the torch. She either flew to the catapult, transformed to Moonkin and fought her way out (no casting flight form in combat) or she fought her way in, clearing the area so she could burn the catapult and cast flight to get out. Moema flew in, hovered over the catapult, cast the torch to burn the catapult and flew away without killing a thing. That’s not a plus if you like killing things, but it’s a fine option to have available if you don’t want to waste time killing everything in sight.

Because I’ve done this zone so many times, I don’t feel a need to do every single quest. Once Moema’s leveled fit for the next zone, we’ll move on. At this point it isn’t about the story, it’s about getting my girl leveled so we can go on to other things. Once she reached level 60 she blew out of the Blasted Lands without retrieving, reassembling and resurrecting Loramus Thalipedes. She skipped Surwich which is a quest chain I really dislike.

The point of the post is on choosing which race/class to build and play. It truly is hard to choose. I love them all. They all have something that is unique. A few have traits that are annoying. The little “OOO” the gnomes make when they”re hit is irritating. The lameness displayed by the draenai females is an unscratchable itch. The sound dwarves make when they’re killed off is a bit off-putting. But all in all, they’re fun, fun, fun. So, how do you choose? In this I have no advice. An alt will get a new ability and I’ll think “this is SO cool! How would anyone not want to play with this!?” and then I repeat the same thing with another race/class I’m leveling when a new skill arrives. So, how do you choose? No clue.